A group of people dancing with a young child at the front

Simmer Down: Good Friday Family Special

Join us for an all ages edition of our regular free monthly meet-up and daytime dance, that’ll have you grooving in the heart of London.

Part of Open Doors

More details for The Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall

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For your visit

In addition to performances from our house band, Tomorrow’s Warriors, GW Jazz spins vinyls to get us in the mood, and the Reggae Choir gets everybody singing along.

And Book Love, the multicultural bookshop and traveling book carnival, pops up on Level 2 of the Royal Festival Hall.

Schedule
1pm – 1.30pm: GW Jazz DJ Set
1.30pm – 2.15pm: Tomorrow’s Warriors
2.15pm – 2.30pm: break
2.30pm – 3.15pm: performance and singing with Reggae Choir
3.15pm – 3.45pm: GW Jazz DJ Set
3.45pm – 4.30pm: Tomorrow’s Warriors
4.30pm – 6pm: GW Jazz DJ Set

Reggae Choir is a non-auditioning, non-religious, contemporary ensemble, open to all who enjoy singing reggae music, regardless of skill or experience. Formed in 2012 by award-winning singer-songwriter Fola Phillip, Reggae Choir have performed at many indoor and outdoor events and festivals including the UK’s largest reggae and dub festival, One Love, and have sold out The Jazz Cafe Camden, among many others.

Gordon and Gillian Wedderburn are the couple behind GW Jazz, a grassroots entity supporting jazz, particularly emerging talent in London. Through their live event residencies, radio show, selector/DJ activities, they’ve collaborated with and supported some of the biggest names on the London jazz scene including Moses Boyd, Ezra Collective and Nubiya Garcia. As selectors, they play across a range of genres including jazz, electronica, house, reggae and more, combining their Jamaican roots and cosmopolitan London existence.

Book Love is an award winning collective of educators, artists, musicians, creatives and family members working together to make multicultural matter. In schools, libraries, galleries, on screens and even on our high streets the stark lack of culturally inclusive representation is sadly too obvious. Book Love have made it their mission to change this and the Travelling Multicultural Book Carnival is spreading the ‘Book Love’.

Need to know

Age guidance

For all ages

Event information

This event is likely to be popular. At busy times a queuing system may be in operation to enter The Clore Ballroom.

Gordon and Gillian Wedderburn DJing with vinyls. — GW Jazz

Sign-up

This application form is to request a table reservation and/or travel support for Simmer Down.

Find out more and apply

Access

This event is a Relaxed Performance (RP).

Relaxed Performances have a relaxed approach to noise and movement in the space, and you are free to enter and exit during the performances.

A chill-out space and noise-cancelling headphones are available for both adults and children.

There are no adjustments to sound and lighting for this event and it contains amplified sound and flashing lights (not strobe). We expect it to be quite busy and loud.

You can join our free Access Scheme through your online Southbank Centre account or via email.
Find out more about our Access Scheme
All our access information

For your visit

This event is held at the The Clore Ballroom Southbank Centre

The Clore Ballroom is open six days a week.

Tuesday, 10am – 6pm*
Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.

*If we’re hosting a performance, the building will stay open until the event ends.

A smilie black woman dancing in The Clore Ballroom

A diverse group of people, including elderly women, joyfully dance together indoors, wearing green scarves, in a lively, well-lit setting

A flutist wearing all white, standing on a small stage

A tabla workshop in The Clore Ballroom. The instructor is cross-legged on a stage, with people playing instruments in front of him.

A vintage orchestra play on a stage in the Clore Ballroom, a band leader dressed in white stands in front of them; couples in vintage dress dance on the dancefloor

A man in a red shirt leading a dance class in the Clore Ballroom

The Clore Ballroom is located inside our Royal Festival Hall on Level 2.

Getting here

Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.

The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.

We’re cash-free

Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.

We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.

All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.

There is step-free access to The Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, via a ramp.

All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.

Next to The Clore Ballroom is our Ballroom Cafe where you can grab a coffee and a piece of freshly made cake. Also on Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace.

From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.

Other places to eat and drink whilst you’re here